Cal is out to win game and recruits

Published 4:00 am, Friday, October 27, 1995

LOS ANGELES - At 2-5 and just a few miscues away from another losing season, Cal will play at UCLA Saturday in a game with a significant subplot.

The Bears' annual trip to Los Angeles - whether against USC or UCLA - always means more than just another game. With Southern California being Cal's favorite recruiting ground, the Bears' on-field performances sometimes help a kid determine whether he would like to play football in Berkeley.

"When we go down there we want to have a good showing," said wide receiver Na'il Benjamin. "This game is important for recruiting purposes."

Benjamin is one of 24 Cal players on the traveling squad who hail from Southern California. Of the Bears' 11 offensive starters, six are from the Los Angeles area.

With the Bears off to a slow start and the coaching staff under fire, Cal's performance against UCLA just might sway some of the at least two dozen potential recruits who'll be in attendance. Last year, the Bears didn't help themselves when they were destroyed, 61-0, by USC at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

"How they finish up will have some kind of impact," said Allen Wallace of SuperPrep magazine. "If they can beat UCLA and Stanford, it's a totally salvageable situation."

What Cal needs to salvage is the bad impression it made by losing to a couple of state schools to open the season. San Diego State and Fresno State, both in the WAC, are now considered formidable competition in the Southern California battleground. Of course, USC, UCLA, and national powers Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma also take their dibs at the L.A.-area talent.

The Bears are in desperate need of a good recruiting class to make up for last year's debacle. After a 4-7 season, Cal lost out on several significant blue-chippers, including Tom Brady to Michigan and Ryan Roques to UCLA. And the Bears' best prospect, running back Steve Wofford, failed to meet college entrance exam requirements and did not enroll.

Of the freshman players Cal did get, only defensive back Derrick Gardner is currently playing. All other newcomers are redshirting.

Cal coach Keith Gilbertson said linebackers Matt Beck, Sekou Sanyika and safety Peter Destefano have potential to be impact players. Ignacio Brache battled incumbent Ryan Longwell for the place-kicker's job for most of the summer camp. And the Bears are expecting Nate Geldermann, who played linebacker at De La Salle High, to be ready by next spring. Geldermann tore up a knee while playing in a pickup basketball game last summer.

Although Cal's rocky start and the coaching staff's tenuous position are obstacles the Bears' recruiters must overcome, Wallace said other elements, which have nothing to do with football, a lot of times end up deciding recruiting wars.

"In Cal's case, what a recruit thinks of Berkeley has a lot of impact," Wallace said. "Some like it and some kids are blown away by it. . . . I think you almost have to identify the kids who might like Berkeley - but I don't know how that can be done."

With Southern California being such a hotly contested battlefield, Wallace said the Bears might be better off venturing outside the state. Only 10 of the Cal players currently on the roster are from outside of California - and only two from east of the Rockies.

"Maybe they can try something different," he said.

"I'm not saying they should copy Stanford, recruiting nationwide. But they might want to try the midlands or Texas. I'm sure there are kids out there who would want to go to a school like Cal the same way some kids want to go to Stanford."

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And there are also times when unwanted, obscure players somehow become All-Americans. Jerrott Willard comes to mind.

"Sometimes you just have to get lucky," Wallace said.&lt;

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